When people call Phil Ivey, “The Michael Jordan of Poker“, the title has its limits and some pretty big shoes to fill, but if you know of Ivey’s stats in recent years you’ll come to understand why he’d have that title attached to him. Day 2 of the $2,500 Omaha/Stud 8 or Better (Event 25) started with 155 players who were some of the best split pot players in the world, but by the end of a very long day, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner would best Ivey’s dominance as he went on a huge late night to finish as the chip leader going into tomorrow’s final day.

155 players returned on Day 2 to maximize their buy-in hoping their investment would lead to a WSOP bracelet.

Leaving the party early was Jeff Lisandro, who had been running hot the last week with a few cashes and a bracelet in Seven-card Stud in Event 16. Holding a flush and straight draw, Lisandro threw in his remaining 3,600 in chips and couldn’t catch either as he was the first to go, but as a common occurance seen here at the WSOP, Lisandro was seen a few minutes when later getting ready for the 5pm start of the $5,000 Omaha 8 or Better (Event 27).

As the hours progressed through the early levels of Day 2 it became apparent that two names stuck out the most were Ivey and Chad Brown as the two combined to rake in the most chips a Omaha/Stud split game has seen in a while.

Creating a volcano of chips right away was in no doubt Ivey. Within the first two hours of the start time, Ivey managed to gain 40,000 in chips to bring his stack to near over 80,000. Many people around the Brasillia room took notice as Ivey kept raking them in. In an early Omaha pot that cemented his run in the beginning was when Ivey three-bet from the small blind after a preflop raise. His opponent made the call and they saw a flop of Q Q 3. Ivey bet out and was called. He bet again when a 9 hit on the turn and then fired one last time when the 7 came on the river. His opponent mucked annoyingly and threw his cards into the muck.

Coming back for another day of chopped pots was Brown who came into yesterday’s event sick as a dog and was one of the short stacks halfway through the first few levels of Day 1 and then miraculously put together a streak that turned him into the comeback kid of the event. Now entering Day 2, Brown looked much better and his skin tone sported a healthy fleshy pink as he sat down for a more comfortable night of poker.

Getting into a Stud pot with his buddy Gavin Smith, Brown bet out subsequently on fifth, sixth, and seventh streets with his board of 3 J 2 5. Smith hesitated for a second and made the call on each with his board showing 6 A Q 9. When Brown flipped over his J J 7 for a set of Jacks, Smith questioned his best hand and mucked. The two exchanged a smile as Brown’s stack of 108,000 got close to Ivey’s 128,000 going into the dinner break.

With the first half of the night over, the chip leads began to change as Ivey, Wong, and experienced Stud player Dutch Boyd switched spots back and forth as they battled for the chip lead. Boyd was the first one to oust Wong from the #1 spot when he picked up 50,000 when on his board of 5 T J 5, he fired out and forced his opponent to fold his board of 6 A 6 Q.

With that one hand, Boyd jumped out ahead to 138,000 to help him comfortably cruise through the rest of the night.

As play winded down the evening, the big stacks of Ivey, Boyd and Steve Wong continued to dominate the field, but as the clock struck 2am in the Brasillia room, something changed. Ivey went limp, Wong seemed overwhelmed and Boyd just faded into the middle somewhere.

They all were on the receiving end of Turner’s monsterous run at the end that put him at an almost 2-1 chip lead above tournament stud Carlos Mortensen to end the night. Pot after pot, Turner took them down easily as a frustrated Ivey could only sit and watch as his cards were beat every single time.

But Turner would have to wait till tomorrow to see himself at the final table as the players were moving at a snails pace towards the end and play was officially stopped at 3am. But 14 will return tomorrow for a tough day where a final table will be set and a bracelet will be rewarded.

Top ten chip counts going into the final day:

1. Jon Turner - 465,000
2. Carlos Mortensen - 280,000
3. Frank Debus - 250,000
4. Eric Buchman - 240,000
5. Steve Wong - 235,000
6. Dutch Boyd - 225,000
7. Blair Rodman - 210,000
8. Matt Kelly - 160,000
9. Phil Ivey - 150,000
10. Mark Scott - 148,000

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